SHEFFIELD SCOOPS TITLE OF UK’S GREENEST CITY

28 October 2021

Sheffield has been named the greenest city in the United Kingdom.

The city, once the steel-making capital of the world, was found to be the most eco-friendly for residents in a new study commissioned by NatWest, which analysed the U.K.’s most populous cities and ranked them using a range of environmental data such as green space, energy use and production, motor vehicles, waste and recycling, commuting travel, and pollution.

The results come from NatWest’s Green Cities Report, in conjunction with experts from the University of Southampton.

Sheffield takes the top spot thanks to 22,600 acres of green space a high volume of renewable energy production and a high percentage of Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) vehicles. Sheffield is estimated to contain more than 4.5 million trees, giving it more trees per person than any other city in Europe.

One-third of Sheffield is within the Peak District national park and 60 percent of the city is green space. There are 250 parks, woodlands, and gardens

Edinburgh and Cardiff came in second and third and the top five were rounded out by Brighton & Hove and Bristol, respectively.

London ranked 11th thanks to a high number of ULEZ vehicles per capita, people commuting via bicycle, and Londoners producing a relatively low amount of waste per person compared to other cities. Wolverhampton was found to be the least eco-friendly of the 25 cities studied.

And as the city Council of Sheffield has announced that drivers of the most polluting vehicles will be charged to enter Sheffield city centre after the council agreed to introduce a Clean Air Zone (CAZ), people of Sheffield has commented on social media angry that if Sheffield is the most eco-friendly city why we would need clean air zone!

“Ironic really with our (Sheffield’s) carbon emissions apparently so high that we need to have a special zone for vehicles in the city!” “Won’t need to do the CAZ then on the car pollution of Sheffield council strike again. Always comes back to money.”